By Kerri Jablonski, Director of Operations, CityMommy Seattle
Let the holiday shopping madness begin. I can’t help but think that the season begins earlier and earlier every year. Maybe I notice it more now that I am a mom, but I swear I heard Christmas music on a commercial at the beginning of last month.
Gone are the days of sitting down with a Crayola marker and the Sears Wish Book. Now we are inundated with websites, television commercials, gigantic store displays, what little Johnny has at playgroup, and of course, mom websites. Ok, so guilty as charged. I am part of the problem. But how do I go about finding out what’s hip in the toy scene? How do I make sure that I have the coolest toys underneath the tree? Well, I ask other moms.
Last week I posed this question to my mom friends: What’s the word on the playground about the latest and greatest toys? What toys and games are your kids talking about? What are YOU talking about with other moms? I’d love to know!
Know what the most popular answer was? Zhu Zhu pets. I still have no idea what those are. I’ve seen the signs at Toys R Us notifying shoppers of limited quantities – but that’s it! Seems like kids also love puzzles, wooden toys and trucks…and board games. Did you have family game night growing up? Maybe this holiday season is a good time to start the tradition again.
For toys I never considered possible as a kid, like LeapFrog’s Tag Reading System (that reads to your child!) to the toys I remember fondly- Legos and Transformers (hey I had older brothers!) the wish lists our kids are writing are much like our own when we were young, with a modern twist. Did you ever think you would be able to carry your Nintendo in your pocket??
The hot toys change over the years, but the excitement is still the same when your child opens that hot new toy he has been asking for everyday for the past 10 weeks. Perhaps you will find yourself dreaming of an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time.
I hope Santa brings you whatever you are wishing for, and your child too!
Photo by Keri Meyers Photography